


Sorry, dropped your coat!

by lunadiane



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Cultural Differences, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Misunderstandings, Modern AU, Selkie Shiro, Selkies, based off a cute af comic on tumblr, sudden marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 12:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18120842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunadiane/pseuds/lunadiane
Summary: Lance didn't know Shiro wasn't human. So when Lance accidentally knocks his coat onto the ground and gives it back to him, he has no idea it means he just got married.Based off the tumblr comic of the same name.





	Sorry, dropped your coat!

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a cute thing and was like. I want a shance au of that

Lance had no idea he wasn’t human. 

Slinging his backpack over his shoulders, he’d accidentally bumped into someone else’s chair in the university library and their coat slipped right off. With a single swoop of his arm, he caught it before it hit the ground thanks to his quick reflexes.

It was huge, so that made it easy. The coat immediately filled his hands, thick, downy fabric bunched up in his fists as he sought to keep it off the library floor. Bigger than it had initially appeared, it draped all over him, the mass of fur covering his arms entirely in a puddle of snow white.

“Sorry, dropped your coat!” He chirped. It took a bit of wrangling and twisting the coat around to finally locate the collar before he neatly hung it back on the stranger’s chair by the armholes. 

Grey eyes met Lance’s blues, and Lance’s breath was stolen in that instant.

The stranger was  _ gorgeous.  _ He had an angular jaw chiseled by a renaissance master and skin as smooth as marble, broad shoulders on a strapping body and delectably muscled arms. A streak of pink ran across his nose like the white lock among his dark hair. Both were clear imperfections that only added to his allure, because Lance had never seen a more perfect man.

Those arresting grey eyes, clear like crystal, stared wide-eyed at Lance like he had just descended from the heavens himself, which was absurd, because every inch of this man down to his blushing cheeks had been lovingly handcrafted by angels. Lance felt  _ tiny _ in his presence, and felt heat rush to his cheeks at this Adonis’s attention that he’d only gotten by knocking his things to the floor.

“Ah - well - sorry!” He apologized again, legs quickly carrying him away before he made a bigger fool of himself. He immediately regretted his brisk retreat for not asking this beautiful stranger for his number. The man had certainly looked interested. 

Maybe he’d see him again around campus, Lance mused. 

Hours later, he was waiting for the bus when he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. Peering up from his phone, his eyes were once again blessed with the same stunning stranger he’d bumped into earlier, dressed in his pure white coat with an absolutely brilliant smile of flawless pearly whites that illuminated his handsome face.

“Hello!” The stranger said with a deep, soothing voice. He was  _ tall _ , a head taller than Lance, and Lance wondered why he was surprised. He wouldn’t have expected anything else other than having to look up at him.

“God, how are you so perfect?” Lance immediately blurted out.

The stranger looked surprised for a moment, panic flooding Lance when he realized what he’d just said, before the man laughed musically, eyes turning into happy crescents. “Thank you! That makes me so happy.” 

“I’m Shiro.” He introduced. 

“Lance.” Lance offered in return, blushing. Around such perfection, how could he not? “So...what’s up?” He ventured, which made Shiro immediately fluster to dig around in his pockets.

“Oh yes - hold on-”

Shiro eventually produced a small velvet box (that looked a lot like a ring box) and opened it to reveal a ring.

“Here,” Shiro announced, holding the box out to Lance and looking incredibly pleased with himself, eyes resting on Lance as if waiting for approval. 

A pause. Lance looked at the ring, then to Shiro, whose expression was shining with hope. The ring itself was platinum, set with a classic white stone - Lance was going to assume the sparkling gem was a diamond rather than ask, because Mama didn’t raise a rude boy.

His brain stuttered to a confused stop. Everyone knew what offering a ring meant, right? But he’s only just met Shiro, so - what? This made no sense.

“Umm…” Lance began. “That ring’s...really nice? It’s really um...lovely, why are you giving it to me?” 

Shiro’s cheeks coloured, confirming Lance’s suspicions that yes, he  _ had _ blushed around Lance the first time, score - and Shiro sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, ducking his head bashfully for a moment.

“I was thinking...we should get married via human traditions too?”

Lance blinked.

Human?

_ Marriage? _

“W-WHAT?!” He stammered, face turned as red as a tomato. Shiro’s face fell, curling both hands around the ring box and holding it close to him protectively. 

“I-Is that a no…?” He murmured, looking so disappointed that Lance had to say something, no matter how stupid or disorganized it was.

“N-No, no, no, I would never say no to you! You’re gorgeous!” Lance immediately said, stepping forward with his hands opened placatingly.

“So it’s a yes?” 

“No, wait - it’s not that simple-” Lance cried. “What do you mean, human traditions?! Like, you’re not human…?!”

“I’m a selkie.” Shiro explained.

The coat. Lance had picked up Shiro’s coat, a  _ selkie’s  _ coat, and given it back to him. By selkie standards, they were already married. Shiro was just being courteous to consider the marriage traditions Lance had been taught.

“Ohhhh…….” The pieces had all fallen into place. And then Lance realized,  _ oh shit _ , he was married to a selkie. An incredibly gorgeous selkie, to be sure, but he was never prepared to be married this early. “Wait”, he repeated, “That’s not how this works!”

“It isn’t?” Shiro asked, confused.

“We just - We don’t marry strangers!” Lance gestured with his hands. “Marriage is a mutual bond between two peopl-”

That was the wrong thing to say, because Shiro recoiled as if he’d been struck, furrowing his brows. “Mutual…!? You mean, you don’t want this? But you just said-”

“No! I mean-” Lance flapped his hands around frantically. “Marriage is a long-term commitment between two people in love who have known each other a long time and are dedicated to each other! You’re really beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but we don’t even know each other!”

“Oh.” Shiro said quietly, eyes and expression drooping. It was startling to see him shrink, despite being bigger and taller than Lance in every way. “Sorry, it’s just…this is my first time as a transfer student on land. I’m still studying human customs,” Shiro rubbed the back of his head again, “and I still don’t really know how things work here. For selkies, we just find our mate, and we’re together forever, it’s simple...”

“That, uh.” Lance fumbled for the words. “That sounds kind of...risky? What if you two don’t work out?”

“It does work out, though.” Shiro raised his head curiously. “How could it not, with your soulmate?”

_ Soulmates _ . Was he Shiro’s soulmate? 

How’d he get so lucky? 

Humans had that concept as well, but they never really believed in it. And Lance was learning that maybe he was more skeptical about that too, no matter how many love ballads he belted out and romance movies and soaps he religiously watched.

“How - How do you know they’re your soulmate?” Lance asked.

“Only soulmates have the urge to return a selkie’s coat.” 

God, Lance hoped that he really was Shiro’s soulmate, and that it wasn’t him just being polite. 

“But is that not true for humans?” Shiro wondered sadly, curling into himself again and looking away from Lance as if it pained him to do so, his coat looking much to big for him all of a sudden. 

“Um, soulmates in humans are kinda a complicated thing - it’s not really a  _ real  _ thing, some people don’t even believe in it, but - it’s a nice thought that most people like? I guess? Because - “ Lance blabbered in an attempt to explain, eyes darting about, “Because, um, if you have someone who you get along really well with for a long time and they make you really happy then I guess that counts as a soulmate? I never really thought about it…” he trailed off.

Soulmates were supposed to be like, magic, right? Sparks and fireworks and a mysterious bond that transcended time and space-

“So…” Shiro mumbled with a defeated expression, “I-I’m not your soulmate?”

Lance shut up immediately. How could he not? Shiro looked like a kicked puppy and it would be cruel to keep hurting him. 

And Shiro had said  _ he _ wasn’t Lance’s soulmate, as if there was anything wrong with Shiro. If there was an undeserving party it would be  _ Lance. _

Fuck it. 

He wasn’t going to be the cause of Shiro’s unhappiness.

“No, it’s just...getting married immediately...isn’t the human way.” Lance rambled. “When we find someone we like, we spend a lot of time with them, which is called ‘dating’, and we do that for a while, like a few years? And we do stuff like watching movies and eating out, holding hands and going to the aquarium, y’know, like, doing things together to get to know each other better, then if we still like each other, we give each other rings and have a wedding to make our marriage official.”

“Does that make sense?” He asked Shiro, who was staring at him in bewilderment.

“So that’s the human way?” His face scrunched up adorably. “Humans are more complicated than I thought…”

“Tell me about it.” Lance deadpanned, but smiled. “Soooo, umm...marriage is a bit too fast, but uh, we could still go out if you want?” 

His face flushed hot with embarrassment, hands knitting together anxiously as he forced himself not to look away from Shiro. Thank god he didn’t, because he would have missed the way Shiro absolutely lit up with a bright smile just for him and the happiest “Of course!” anyone had ever said to Lance. “I want to do things the human way too, since you’re my soulmate.”

Lance wanted to explode.  _ How did he get so lucky?! _

As Shiro slipped the ring box back into his pocket, Lance snapped out of his stupor and pulled out his phone. “L-Let me get your number, so that we can talk some more.” 

“Alright.” Shiro fumbled around in his pockets for his phone. “How long does human...dating usually take?”

“Uhh, it depends.” Lance scratched his head. “Like my sister got married after knowing her boyfriend for six months, but usually it’s a few years…”

“So I’ll give you the ring after six months!” Shiro gushes enthusiastically. “I’ll keep it safe until then.”

“N-No it doesn’t have to be exact like that!” 

**Author's Note:**

> ok I might write more of this au with cute cultural misunderstandings and dating but im absolutely TERRIBLE with chaptered fics so here is a oneshot


End file.
